May 26, 2015, 6:24PM

A defendant who got up and walked out of his state gun trial last week after a jury was seated to hear opening arguments has effectively hijacked his case and the criminal justice system, frustrated prosecutors said after a mistrial was declared Tuesday (May 26). Criminal District Court Judge Byron C. Williams declared the mistrial during a heated discussion in chambers... Full story »

May 26, 2015, 3:58PM

A mistrial was declared Tuesday (May 26) in the gun case involving runaway defendant Harry Riggins, who absconded from court last week after a sworn jury had been seated. Judge Byron C. Williams, who last Friday ruled that Riggins would be tried in absentia if he could not be found by Tuesday morning, ended the trial during a heated 22-minute... Full story »

May 11, 2015, 7:56PM

Reginald Adams, who last year was freed after serving 34 years in prison on a tainted murder conviction, filed suit in New Orleans' federal court on Monday (May 11). Adams' lawsuit accuses the city and several former police officers and prosecutors of violating his civil rights and inflicting harm with their actions that led to him spending more than half his... Full story »

April 23, 2015, 9:52AM

Robert Durst's state weapons case was dropped Thursday (April 23), as Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office decided not to prosecute charges that had been pursued for more than a month. Assistant District Attorneys Laura Rodrigue and Robert Freeman filed the decision in Criminal District Court Judge Franz Zibilich's section. Rodrigue told the judge the decision was made in... Full story »

April 22, 2015, 8:46PM

Elizabeth Mahoney spent more than 30 years counseling people on the dangers of domestic violence, a crime that she and her daughter, India, became victims of in 2009. Mahoney's former husband, Charles Richardson, was convicted in 2011 of first-degree murder. He shot Mahoney and India in the face two years earlier. India, 18, did not survive the shooting. "The only... Full story »

April 15, 2015, 6:45AM

Jarvis DeBerry's editorial column calling for yet a third prosecution of former New Orleans police officer David Warren is without merit and is inconsistent with the unanimous acquittal (12-0) Warren received by a racially mixed jury in 2013. Recall that initially, based on the condition of Henry Glover's body, Coroner Frank Minyard could not make a determination of the cause of... Full story »

April 13, 2015, 11:45AM

A man convicted on murder charges in a pre-Hurricane Katrina killing in the Lafitte housing projects had his conviction vacated and murder charges dropped Monday (April 13). After spending nearly 10 years of a life sentence behind bars for the killing of Bryant "B.J." Craig Jr., Kia Stewart, 27, was able to walk out of the Orleans Parish Criminal... Full story »

April 09, 2015, 10:12PM

Darren Sharper's chances of being released from jail before age 50 will hinge on how completely and truthfully he cooperates in other prosecutions, and how well he adheres to a lifetime probation that will seem cloistered compared to his previous nightclubbing lifestyle, according to a copy of Sharper's global plea agreement obtained by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. The former... Full story »

April 09, 2015, 3:07PM

A former Angola lifer who was granted a new trial after being jailed on a murder conviction for more than two decades no longer has to remain on house arrest, an Orleans Parish judge ruled Thursday (April 9). Jerome Morgan, who was released from jail in February 2014 after spending more than 20 years behind bars for a killing... Full story »

April 08, 2015, 6:56PM

Darren Sharper will serve just under nine more years in prison, followed by a minimum three-year parole in California and a lifetime probation in Arizona, after the final guilty pleas of his multi-state serial rape case are entered, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Wednesday (April 8). Sharper, the former Saints safety, has been implicated in the drug-related sexual... Full story »

April 08, 2015, 6:45AM

A week after Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse reclassified Henry Glover's 2005 death a homicide, members of Glover's family say they will press District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro to file criminal charges against the New Orleans Police officer who gunned down Glover. Glover's relatives plan to hold a press conference on the steps of the District Attorney's office at 11 a.m. today... Full story »

April 01, 2015, 9:50PM

For almost 10 years, Rebecca Glover has campaigned to hold someone accountable for the death of her nephew, Henry Glover. On Wednesday (April 1), after Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse reclassified Henry Glover's 2005 death a homicide, she decided she'd take this weekend off. "But after Easter, I'm going right to (District Attorney Leon) Cannizzaro's office," Glover said Wednesday night,... Full story »

March 30, 2015, 4:03PM

The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld an Orleans Parish judge's ruling to reverse the murder conviction of a man jailed for more two decades in a shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in 1993. Jerome Morgan, 38, was released from jail last February after spending 20 years behind bars for the murder of 16-year-old Clarence Landry III, a crime he... Full story »

March 25, 2015, 7:30PM

The Orleans Parish District Attorney's office lashed back Wednesday (March 25) at the accusations of indicted public defender's investigator Taryn Blume, calling her claims that she is being prosecuted vindictively thin on both law and logic. "Despite the desires of the defendant and her attorneys to make it so, this is not the District Attorney's office v. the Public... Full story »

March 13, 2015, 7:11AM

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is scheduled to be in New Orleans on Friday (March 13) to host what is billed as a "leadership forum" on crime reduction strategies for the city. The meeting with several local law enforcement officials, invited residents and academicians at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau is not open to the public. Its purpose is to... Full story »

March 11, 2015, 5:51PM

Two lawyers representing an Orleans Public Defender's Office employee should not be held in contempt for publicly naming a rape victim, in part because a prosecutor did it first in a separate case, their attorney said at a court hearing Wednesday. But a top deputy for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office, which wants the two lawyers sanctioned, said their "he did it too" defense should... Full story »

March 05, 2015, 6:12PM

Two attorneys representing a public defender investigator should be held in contempt for identifying a rape victim in a court filing lambasting District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office, the district attorney's office argued in a filing of its own. The new motion, the latest in what's shaping to be a legal slugfest, came after defense attorneys Mark Cunningham and Michael Magner asked a... Full story »

March 03, 2015, 8:21PM

An investigator with the Orleans Parish Public Defender's office charged with impersonating a District Attorney staffer alleged Monday (March 2) that the prosecutor in her case "manufactured the charges against her in order to shift blame away from his own misconduct." In an explosive motion seeking to recuse the district attorney's office, Taryn Blume said Assistant District Attorney Jason Napoli and the... Full story »

February 24, 2015, 6:42PM

A convicted gang member and reputed father figure for a group young men convicted in a slew of violent crimes including the 2012 murder of 5-year-old Briana Allen received a reduced sentence Tuesday, after testifying against his son and stepson at trial last month. Antonio "Big Rico" Johnson will spend less than two more years behind bars, Orleans Parish Criminal District... Full story »